Birds Of A Feather
by MarLuna
Summary: Set centuries after Twilight Princess (and Four Swords Adventures), following the official Timeline. Mostly modernized. Link and Zelda are childhood friends and apply to learn at Hyrule's very own best and finest academy. But how can they even be so close when she turns out to be a princess and her father, the King, protectively watches over her every move? ZeLink.


**Birds Of A Feather**

_Written by MarLuna_

_+standard disclaimer applied_

* * *

**Summary:**

_Set centuries after Twilight Princess (and Four Swords Adventures), following the official Timeline. Mostly modernized. Link and Zelda are childhood friends and apply to learn at Hyrule's very own best and finest academy. But how can they even be so close when she turns out to be a princess and her father, the King, protectively watches over her every move? ZeLink. Appearances from characters from multiple different games. No OCs._

* * *

"...Come on, lazy boy! Wake up!" A voice stirred the tired Link from his dreams. He was having a particularly great one about battling the boss of one of his favorite video games and kicking its butt. He mumbled a "Take this, you evil monster!", tossed one of his arms weakly in the air, and tried to roll over, pulling his blankets up as he went (but the loser failed, obviously). He heard a giggle before the weight of another (but smaller) creature landed on his abdomen. He groggily wondered why in the world cuccos would want to nest on his stomach after he had _accidentally_ dropped a few of them in the river in front of Zelda's house yesterday (to catch her attention, shhh!), but he couldn't think up a good excuse other than _revenge_. Adrenaline kicked in his veins as he pushed the cloud of sleep away from his mind, waking up but keeping his eyes closed to fool the bird. He focused on keeping is breathing normal and strained his ear to pick up any kind of noise the creature could make.

"Link..." He heard the cucco coo at him, not realizing that the chicken-like creature couldn't actually talk, and felt its weight shift. He stilled, wanting for the perfect moment to catch it off guard.

He felt it lean forward and touch his hair, and he took it as his cue. He reached out, expecting to smack a beak, and his fingers curled around a thin familiar wrist instead. He didn't argue with the logic of cuccos having human arms and yanked it closer. The person—not a cucco, Link realized with a sigh of relief—dropped in a heap next to him on his bed, and she realized that he had been awake the whole time.

She squeaked, laughed as she landed, and gave Link a naughty look. "I thought you were sleeping, Link. That's mean, playing a trick on me."

A smile lit up Link's face as he took in his angel's features—small oval shaped face, sexy blond hair pulled back into a braid that landed at her waist, matching square bangs, pink rimmed glasses ("Excuse me for being blind!") sitting lightly on her button nose, sparkling blue eyes that reflected the skies, perfect lips being, well, perfect, puffy pink cheeks, and many more features that made him fall in love all over again —and he suddenly didn't mind being woken up. "Hi Zelda."

She curled into his blankets and his pillow, which smelt so much like him that it should be illegal (not that she minded, the little pervert), and swatted at him. "Hi to you too, Link."

"What are you doing here?"

"Mnn," She cuddled closer to him and shoved her face in the pillow, hiding her face from the sun trying to trespass on their moment through the curtains, "getting some more sleep."

A tiny manly blush appeared on Link's face, because although the two of them were as close as childhood friends could be, they weren't so close as to share their beds just yet. Not that he minded. There was something about having her in his room, on his bed, that made him much more protective than usual. He relaxed and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself because hello! The girl of his freakin' dreams was relaxing quite literally in his face!

"You should go get ready," Zelda mumbled to him.

"Five minutes," He tugged the pillow closer to get some more room, since she had been stealing all of it. He felt her shift a little closer, her bent knees lightly scuffing his own, and he slowly opened his eyes to stare at her, only to find that she was doing the same.

"First day of the academy today." She stated, not at all bothered by their proximity. Their noses were so close to touching. "I don't want to go. I want to stay here."

Link sighed in return. "If we're lucky, we'll get paired together. Then we can hang out all the time like we used to."

That brightened her expression up a few notches, "You're right! I hope my dad's recommendation for us to get paired together sways their decision. They always choose in advance by personality and history. Since we're best f-friends—" She stumbled over the word like she usually did, face hot as she looked away in embarrassment, "—it should give us more chances to be together."

"I hope so too." He smiled warmly, eyes melting with the evil sun rays of that his drapes couldn't protect him from. He dulled in an instant though, "I still don't understand what the pairings are for, though."

"Courage, Power, and Wisdom." She recited, having literally memorized everything about the academy and what they were demanding. She had even hacked into the academy's mainframe to know more about it. She had found the pairing file, but when she realized that instead of names there were incomprehensible numbers (which she couldn't find who they were linked to, no matter how far she dug), she gave up and instead found the file that had the examination tests written in binary code. Not that that would stop her. She was fluent in binary. They were going to win the pairs examination, no problem. "Don't tell me you were asleep when I told you?"

"Well, uh, not really…" He chuckled awkwardly, looking anywhere but at her face, "I was just really tired… and I kinda zoned out… You can't blame a guy for working infinite hours on repairing the farm after the latest goron attack."

"I guess you're right…" She mumbled, but still miffed that she'd been ignored after finding all that juicy information for him (not that she wasn't curious as well). What was he taking her for? A book ready to be open when needed? No! She had information and she was going to tell that information to the world! Uh, well, maybe not the entire world… just a few people. She had already accidentally told Malon, after all. It wasn't a big deal, but at the same time, it was for her! "Want me to explain it again?"

Link rolled away slightly to glance at the clock over his shoulder, "Maybe not now. I have to get ready so we don't end up being late."

She dropped her face back in the pillow, sulking. "Fine."

With a roll of his eyes at how immature she could be, he rolled off his bed and made his way into his tiny closet, crabbing his clothes before locking himself in the bathroom to change. After making sure his wet suit was perfectly fine and properly placed under his black and white plaid uniform, he returned to his room. Not before smirking at his usual sexy face. He was a babe, after all.

The second he entered, he found Zelda making his bed as usual, shaking her head at him disapprovingly when she noticed his presence. "Making your bed is important!"

"I fail to see it," He replied automatically, going over to his desk to grab a few random notebooks and pencil cases to drop in his waterproof bag. Now that he was properly awake and ready, he took notice of Zelda's bags and shoes at his room's door, and then he looked at her and realized that she was already in her own uniform, similar to his but she with a skirt instead. He sent a sweeping glance around his room and the emptiness maddening, all his stuff (except for his bed and desk) shipped to the new private academy. They weren't allowed to get a room in the dorms until they passed the entrance and examination tests on the first day, which determined if they were even allowed in the first place (they were allowed to get uniforms in advance though, so that the proctors knew who to look for). Rumours were that the prestigious academy had more than half of the students sent back, rejected. Now that he and Zelda were of age, they decided it was time for them to try as well, since they only wanted to aim for the best. The penalty of rejection was hard, however—all failures were sent as sacrifices to the gorons to make peace. Nothing worked to settle the war yet, and somehow the demands to enter the academy hadn't diminished. Only the stupid would apply, but here they were, two of the best, going to their first day.

"Well, whatever," She sighed and picked up her back, sliding her feet into her boots and strapping them tight. "We're going to win." She repeated it like a mantra, refusing to lose hope when they were so close to the goal. They were going to win. She had a feeling they would. And her feeling was never wrong. "We're going to win."

"Yeah," He repeated, the nerves finally starting to flutter in his gut. He gave Zelda a final look. "You sure you want to do this?"

There was no doubt. "We're going to win."

"We're going to win." He repeated with a nod, and they left his room.

"Good morning!" Link's mother greeted them from the kitchen, stopping her humming to greet them in the midst of washing the morning dishes. "I hope he wasn't sleeping too hard!"

Realizing that this was addressed to her, Zelda grinned, "Not hard enough! I still managed to wake him!"

The woman nodded, "That's good! Wouldn't want him to be late, now would we?" After a few seconds of observing his son and his friend and making sure they were properly dressed and ready to go, she nodded to the pile of toast on the table. "Take a going-to-be-late toast and get!" When they did as they were told and were running out of the door (after briefly stopping to let Link put on his own boots), she quickly threw another demand over her shoulder. "TIE YOUR TIE PROPERLY! DON'T MAKE A FOOL OUT OF YOUR MOTHER!" Which, of course, Zelda helped with, because she was a pro with ties. Just like all female geniuses are.

"I wish my family was like yours," Zelda laughed as she joined Link's run through the city, not loosing pace.

Link shook his head, "Dad's always working and only gets home late. It's pretty lonely."

"It's better than mine," She squeaked, quickly moving behind Link to avoid getting run over by a random person on a bicycle. "My papa's always at the academy. He never has the time to come home anymore! Mom worries and spends her nights crying, since his board of advisers and teachers forces him to stay and work overtime, even though they always scold him for working too much. It's really crazy and maddening and I just can't wait to get over there and figure out a way to help him out, you know what I mean?"

Link wasn't a big fan of digging for details, but since this was the first time she was actually talking about her family freely (all the other times he asked, he got rejected hard), he didn't let the chance slip through his fingers. "What do you plan on doing then?" When her frowned deepened to a scowl, he knew what it meant—she had no idea and wanted to change the subject—and quickly did the later. "How about you explain to me that thing about academy while we're running there?"

"Can't," She wheezed, tears in her eyes as she quickly reached her limit. She was never one for exercise. That was Link's job. "Dying!"

Ever the gentleman, Link paused running to bend down and pick her up, slinging her over his shoulder carelessly like a sack of potatoes. She let out an angry huff for not being taken care of gently and lightly smacked the back of his head in protest. If he had felt it, he had ignored it, too focused on swerving through so many alleys to get through their perfect shortcut. They created it two years ago when they decided to apply to the academy, just in case they were going to be late (face it, Link was always sleeping in, so he was bound to be late one day).

"Okay, now speak," He demanded when there was literally nothing stopping her.

"Well, okay," She was not enjoying all the bouncing around she was doing on his shoulder. She was suddenly glad that she had worn her wet suit today, or else Link would've had a good clear view of her butt and panties. "The entire academy is split in three—power, courage, and wisdom. And when they accept the students, they're separated in groups of three, and those groups will be our teams for the rest of the academy's experience. No swapping allowed either. So we have to do it perfectly or we're going to be stuck with other people for the next four years."

Link nodded, "What do we do then? To get them to put us together?"

"Well, they already created the teams by looking at personalities and skills a week before the first day." She drummed her fingers on his back as she waited. The alley from the academy would take approximately ten minutes to reach at the speed they were going. Her weight on his shoulder was probably slowing him down, but it was better than having her run behind like a turtle. "But they can still change their minds. When we filled our forms, we had to check a box to which section we wanted to be in. I chose wisdom, what did you chose?"

"Courage. I'm not buff enough to be in power."

"Bullshit." He worked out every weekend, more than she could ever do! "But anyway, the first test is to show off your skills in whatever way you like. If they find that you're not suited for the sector you chose, then they'll shoot you down, even if you're off better in another sector. It's kinda like testing your self-awareness or something. I'm not sure. It doesn't state their reasons behind the tests."

"Okay, that's cool." Link replied, not really knowing what to say. He really hoped he picked the right choice with courage. Zelda had always been the brainiac and him the athletic pro, helping each other out when they had problems. But what if he was really suited power? He couldn't take it back. The decision was made. The only time he was ever courageous was in front of Zelda to show off, but how in the world was he supposed to demonstrate that to some random judges? He was so screwed.

Zelda, recognizing that they were in the final alley before their destination, tapped annoyingly at Link's back until he finally put her down. After a quick stretch, they exited the alley and walked up the steps to the great fountain, not surprised to find many others wearing the same uniforms as them in line and waiting. They quickly went to the back and waited.

"We have time. I'll keep explaining." Zelda lowered her voice to a whisper, pushing herself on the tip of her toes to reach his ear. "That was the first test. The second is completely different. It's a match up test. We get one item and we have to use it to get out of a maze. Complicated stuff, but it makes sense. All items are supposed to be helpful to find the exit, so don't worry too much about it. They call it a match up test to see how well you adapt to your weapon and how well the weapon chosen is appropriate to your person." Link nodded as they moved up until they were the fourth ones in line.

"In the final test, they'll have everyone fight a giant monster together. All weapons will be available for this, and you can swap whenever. Deaths can happen, so be careful." She looked up at him, a look of worry over his wellbeing settling on her features. "You can be pretty reckless, so please think before you do anything." She grabbed his face in her tiny hands and pulled it down to her level. "I swear, if you don't survive, I'll use my infinite knowledge to drag you back from the undead and beat the crud right back out of you."

"Harsh," Link remarked with a smirk, sending a look of confidence back at her. Her hands on his face were trembling, so he put his own over them to soothe them and smiled. "Don't worry, Zelda. I'll protect you. I'll always protect you."

If it weren't for her super great will power, she would've swooned on the spot. "You better, you big idiot."

"Pardon the intrusion to your flirting." A voice coughed harshly behind them. "But please GO!"

The voice brought them back from their moment. They eyes widened at their proximity and how intimate they were being (and all the possibilities of romance it could lead them towards, oho), and they instantly jumped away from each other, dropping their hands and refusing to look the other in the eye. Link looked up to the front of the line and realized that it was nonexistent, that it was actually them that were next, and jogged to the front of the fountain. Zelda joined him after a few more seconds.

Feeling awkward, but knowing that their friendship wasn't going to be affected by something so small, he held out his hand to Zelda as he stepped on the edge. Her eyes immediately lit up at the action and she didn't hesitate to grab it and intertwine her fingers in his to avoid getting separated. With their free hands, they pulled up the turtlenecks of their wet suits so that it covered their mouths and noses, allowing them to breathe underwater. Zelda quickly slid her goggles from her vest pocket over her glasses, allowing her to see clearly underwater. Without another second thought, they jumped into the water together.

And were greeted with a sight to behold.

* * *

Zelda let out a shriek as she looked down and pulled down her fluttering skirt to cover the desired parts with her free hand, even if she was wearing a suit underneath.

"Zelda?" Link turned in surprise and was on the alert, looking her over a bunch of times to make sure she hadn't been harmed by an intruder. He saw nothing out of place. "What's wrong?"

"D-don't look!" She yelped, turning her back to him and trying to swim away, even though they were still holding hands.

"…are you okay?"

"No! This is totally demeaning to women!"

"What?"

"The water is forcing my skirt up!"

Link's face instantly went red and he couldn't find the words to even think to argue with her.

* * *

"Hello, you two! I will be your guide for a few minutes!" A creature that was mix of fish and human fluttered in front of their sinking features. Link and Zelda's boots had heavy magnets placed inside of them, not enough to slow them down on ground, but enough to affect their weight and get them to sink in water ("The Iron Boots finally perfected!" Zelda cooed when they had gotten them). "You've just passed the Courage test! You'd be surprised how many chicken out when they're told they had to jump in here with iron boots with no chance of ever going back up. And that there's a chance that they're going eaten alive by monsters." The duo shared worried glances. The zora ignored it and twirled in front of the duo, swimming diagonally down. "Now follow me! You should be able to swim with your boots on!" It turned so that it was swimming away on its back, waving its arms in a 'come hither!' fashion. "If you don't, the Shell Blades at the bottom of the ocean are sure to attack you!" They weren't that close to the sea floor, but they weren't ready to figure it out on their first day.

Before Link could figure out to tilt his body forward and start kicking his feet to swim, Zelda was tugging him forward, having already it figured it all out like the genius she totally was. Mimicking her movement, he easily caught up so that they were swimming side by side. He turned and smiled at her, and she returned it with a giddy laugh.

"What's the next test?" Zelda asked, though it got muffled through her breathing mask. She had already figured out that if the first test was Courage, then Wisdom and Power were sure to come next. The zora in front of them stopped in order to allow them to catch up and then pointed down at the building that was a bit further down under their feet. It was standing on a platform that appeared to be hovering in the middle of the pond. With a closer look, four thin pillars could be seen holding it up, vanishing down to the darkening sea floor.

"That's the academy." The zora said once they were close enough. "The Wisdom test is to figure out the way inside. Only very few were able to get in so far." He pointed to the bunch of random students like them loitering around the glowing underwater building, most of them on the small platform built around it for safety (there was even a high fence with a door) and peering up due to the heavy boots forcing them to stay down. "Have fun."

"I have an idea!" Zelda was already on the job, and tugged at hers and Link's intertwined hand to hurry up as she started swimming over. Once the zora realized that he was no longer needed, he swam away to greet other students who had dived in as they had.

"W-what is it?" Link hastily tried to keep up, wondering where she had her sudden boost of energy.

"Look!" She pointed down at the building. It was large, tall, wide, square, with three connected towers—one at each side and back—the entire theme being a castle. There was even fluttering flags and banners. There was one, however, that was certainly out of place, with large bold white on black letters: "WELCOME ALL NEW STUDENTS" at the entrance of a small entrance arch. The problem was that there were many other students gathered there and pounding at the door, wanting to get in.

"That's a fake door…" He realized when they swam past the situation, declining until they finally landed on the top of the center building. He turned towards Zelda the second she let go of his hand.

She put one of them on her hips and started pointing everywhere with the other, "Those towers are the dorms! This tall building we're standing on is the main building! That door that everyone is cluttering around is a fake! What do you think that means?"

The boy shrugged, confused. Why was she making a big deal out of it? Did it really matter? The towers were the dorms, this building was the academy, and the door was fake. He couldn't really think of a connection between it all. They were supposed to enter through this building, weren't they? Besides, if the remaining tests were Wisdom and Power, didn't that just mean that they had to figure out the way through the academy by forcing their way in with brute force? Like two tests in one?

"It _means—" _Zelda rolled her eyes at his cluelessness, "—that this is not the academy."

"What are you talking about?" Link's eyebrows shot up. Had he heard her correctly? "That zora said it himself. This was the academy."

"No, he didn't! Weren't you watching?" She scolded him, flinging her hands out in exasperation and scowling at him through squinted eyes (though it was hard to see with her wearing both glasses and goggles, but he was a pro at knowing Zelda, and he just knew that whenever she was unhappy with him, she squinted her eyes cutely), "He just pointed in this general direction! That doesn't necessarily mean this building."

"…what." Link just blinked. She was oddly excited for supposedly figuring out something very few people could. "Are you okay?"

"No! You're not listening to me!" Zelda huffed, and stormed over the edge of the building that was looming over the fake archway entrance. Link, once seeing this, rushed over and pulled her back so that she wasn't going to fall over. He didn't care that they were in water and that in said liquid their movements were lagged—he just wanted her safe. "Uggh, Link, I just wanted to show you the fake door from here but fine." She turned towards him and gave him her most serious look. "Which test is this one?"

"Wisdom."

"And what is wisdom?"

"Knowledge. Cleverness. You." He cracked a charming smile while he was at it.

A smile blossomed on her face but she quickly pushed it down, "And what's so clever about busting a door open?"

He blinked. "Nothing. Isn't that the power part?" When a sly grin slid on Zelda's face and she asked him to elaborate, he was finally starting to understand. Power had nothing to do with it. "So they're wasting their time?" She nodded. He threw a quick glance around and pouted at her. "Okay, genius, where would the real door be then?"

"I'll let you figure it out!" She chimed, skipping in slow motion over to the center of the roof building, and then twirling back in his direction to watch him mull it over.

Link got into his super thinking mode. Okay. He had to figure out what Zelda just did, which couldn't be that hard, but knowing Zelda, it could so freaking hard that she was just playing him. No, Zelda wouldn't do that. She was kind! She was sweet! As long as the part where she joined him in throwing the cuccos down the river didn't count. He shook his head to free his thoughts and went back on topic. The zora pointing in their general direction. The shell blades at the bottom of the ocean. The four pillars holding the island up. The tower dorms. Wisdom but not power. Wait, if there were shell blades at the bottom of the sea, why weren't they attacking the pillars holding them up and eating them for lunch?

"I knew you'd figure it out!" Zelda interrupted his thoughts with a squeal. Just like how he could read her thoughts, she could do it much better with him. He was practically an open book with her. She jumped over to him, grabbed his hand again, and started yanking him over to edge of the building. But not the same one that Zelda went over to before, but rather the one at the back. Link didn't argue as Zelda dragged him down on the platform of the back of the academy and had them land on the fence. He hoped it wouldn't crumple with their weight, but seeing as they were in water and their boots weren't supposed to be that heavy, they were fine. Wait, no they weren't. The boots were made to make them heavy. They had to move before they destroyed property that clearly wasn't theirs. Would it work that way underwater?

When Link shot Zelda a curious look, she shied away. "You first."

A soft smile returned to his face, barely detectable through the material that was allowing him to breathe. "Scaredy cat."

"S-shut up!" She hissed before slapping his back.

Link grinned and slowly crept his way towards her. She knew what it meant and backed off, trying to jump back onto the safety of the platform to get away. Link refused to let her though, and yanked her back by the waist, holding her in his arms. With a devilish grin, he took one step off the fence.

And they plummeted down to their doom.

Well, they plummeted down to their doom as fast they possibly could when there wasn't much gravity in the ocean and their boots were the only ones doing their job.

* * *

Another zora greeted them as they landed at the bottom, this one rather feminine. After taking a quick glance around, it was obvious that the previous zora had been lying—there weren't any monsters on the sea floor after all—and that he had said it as a tactic to thin out the herd.

Link and Zelda didn't even have time to take their first steps on the new grounds before the zora was all over them. "Yay! You guy passed the Wisdom test—" Zelda gave Link a haughty look. The man rolled his eyes. "—and now you only have power left! This is great! You have no idea how many don't even think about going down here, I mean duh! It's so obvious! Well, I guess it doesn't help that my pals were telling you not to come down but whatever. Taking a risk is fun, right? I mean, the Courage test was also obvious, I guess. I don't really understand why people would chicken out. Well, I guess I understand the girls—don't want to ruin our hair and all, and I guess guys don't want to drown? I don't know, but hello! Everything underwater is so beautiful!"

Link shot a quick glance towards Zelda, mentally agreeing with the creature. To him, Zelda was the brightest star in the sky and he was an astronaut who could only stand on the moon and admire her from afar. He wasn't going to admit it out loud, obviously, because he knew that Zelda had barriers, and even just the one to be friends had been really hard to pass, and they were childhood friends for goodness sake. Zelda looked back at him in wonder, but he was already looking away to avoid getting caught looking away.

"Who would want to miss on this? Besides, chickening out is basically the same as failing the entrance test, which basically mean they've sent their souls to go after the gorons, which is really not ideal." Link and Zelda sent each other quick, worried glances. The zora had already moved on from the topic of the conversation though. "But anyhow! Let's not dwell on that and move on! This next test is going to be a breeze for you two, I just know it!" Zora-ette was still rambling. "It's in this cave and its really cool and stuff and you just have to reach the other end you'll be home free—don't just stand there and be all cuddly you two! Come on!" The human duo looked at each other, and it was only then that they realized that they were still holding each other. With a blush that Link wished he could've watched longer, Zelda cleared her through and slid out from under his arms. He still didn't argue. He wasn't one to go against her wishes (even if he didn't necessarily know her thoughts about them ever getting together, and that he wanted to grab her there and then and make her his). "A secret romance, amiright?" She wiggled her fishy eyebrows at them, misreading their moment (not really), and then waved to them to follow her, not really caring about the response she would get. "It's this way! Come on! Come on! Come _on_! I gotta lead you to your final test!" They followed obediently, walking along the sea floor as their new guide swam and talked at the same time. "Well anyway, like the other two tests, it shouldn't be that hard! For a Power test, even a scrawny little seaweed can pass! It's _so_ simple!"

"What do we have to do?" asked Zelda, perplexed.

"Can't say!" When they eventually made their way to a sea wall that had a large cave mouth beckoning them (with a fancy-ass border around it with even fancier ancient language), the zora flipped in the water and landed on her feet in front of them. "Here we are! This is the tunnel that leads to the academy! Unfortunately, it gets really dark in there since its kinda long and dull and lacks lots of reflective items other than certain areas on the walls, so be careful! Don't want you to accidentally lose an arm or something!"

As usual, Link had to worry about their—coughZeldacough—health. "Are there any monsters?"

The zora bit her lip. "Again, can't say! Sorry! Wish I could help but I really can't help someone more than the others! Sorry!"

Link nodded and started moving faster to get ahead of Zelda. "I'm going first!"

The girl pouted, because she knew exactly why he was doing it.

Zora-girl wiggled her eyebrows at her without saying a word (a miracle, omg).

"It-it's not like that!" Zelda whispered harshly back, a blush creeping on her cheeks and clearly proving the opposite. "We're just friends!" She denied, though her fluttering gut was telling her otherwise—since they were going to be in a cave all alone, just the two of them, alone, in a cave, and her imagination was going crazy—and hurried along. Link had already vanished from her sights and she was worried she had already lost him. "Wait up, Link!"

Link stuck his head back out of the darkness of the cave and waved at her to hurry up.

"Whatever you say!" The zora jumped back and started swimming away. "But I always know the truth when it comes to love!"

"What's she talking about now?" Link looked down at Zelda, who flushed red.

"N-nothing!" She shrieked, shoving his face back in the cave. "J-just forget it and let's go!"

* * *

After what seemed like hours of swimming (which was really just thirty minutes), Zelda's legs were getting tired. Link, however, could handle it much better than she could. She was about to ask for a piggy back ride, but then she wondered how it would actually work underwater.

"Let's take a break!" She whined, lagging further behind and stopping altogether, which then made her slowly go down. Link turned, spotted her and quickly swam over to pull her back up to his level (there were spikes at the bottom! Gotta be careful with those!). She pouted like a little kid and refused to keep kicking her feet though. And although he was also starting to get tired, he let her wrap her arms around his neck and he started pulling her up, because he was a faithful little man-slave. Er, butler. Yes, let's go with butler. Wait, he was also her bodyguard.

"My precious butlerguard," Zelda cooed when they finally reached the end of the cave, which ended really high in an underwater pit cave fashion. All they had to do was swim really high and they would be home free. Zelda pointed up to their exit. "Onward my loyal butlerguard!"

Link had no idea what she was going on about, but she was clearly addressing him, so he pedaled his feet faster and moved his arms faster and they eventually reached the top. Link pulled them out of the water and Zelda gratefully rolled off of him, dropping on her back on the fresh grass. She pulled down her face mask and yanked off her goggles and took in a deep breath filled with fresh air, and the smell of fabulous flowers nearby. She sighed contently.

"You're so lazy." Link threw to Zelda, laying down next to her and looking up at the skies, a light pant escaping his lips. "Making me do all the hard work."

Zelda let out an evil giggle that was created to look innocently cute on her. "But I was tired!"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you were. You're always tired."

"It's not my fault!" She cried with mock indignation, propping herself on an elbow to look at him. He smiled and raised his eyebrows in a disbelieving manner. She shoved his arm playfully. "Next time, _I'll_ carry you!"

He sat up to match her height and chuckled. "That's impossible for you!"

"No it's not!" She grinned and jumped to her feet, sticking out her arms and curling them like a bodybuilders, trying to appear tough and buff. "I'm strong!"

"I don't think so!" he grinned right back at her, "but what's a butlerguard?"

"A butler-bodyguard." She answered matter-of-factly. "You are my butler and my bodyguard."

"Since when?"

"Since forever!"

"I never agreed—" Link started, but then the ground started to shake all around them. They looked wildly around their makeshift clearing—the water splashing in every direction, the plants and trees wiggling wildly, the dirt leading to a forest trail lifting—until they finally noticed it. Zelda fell back with a startled shriek behind Link, getting ready to slide back into the water in case they might be in real trouble, and Link pulled himself carefully to his feet, keeping his balance perfect, and dug his feet into the ground, facing the fast approaching ball off rock to protect Zelda.

"When I tell you to," Link glanced over his shoulder to the girl, making sure she was paying attention to him, "you run!"

"I'm not leaving you!" She growled back, his question flaring up her determination.

Link nodded reluctantly, not really happy about it, but there wasn't any time to argue. The giant rolling boulder was on them. He took two steps forwards, squared off against it and spread his arms. In less than three seconds, he was holding the spinning ball of steaming rock back with his entire body. It wouldn't give in or slow down, however, and he was using everything not to fall over and let them get completely smushed.

Zelda was freaking out behind him, trying to figure out a way to help before they would get pushed back in the water. Just as her heels met the edge of the water hole, the idea hit her.

"Throw it in the water, Link!" She yelped, grabbing onto the back of his uniform and pulling with all her might. Link, barely understanding why the heck that would be a good thing while he was holding it off, used the help of Zelda pulling him to swing around and pull the rock where they used to stand, letting go as soon as he could. The out of control boulder whirled away from them and started to make a complete uturn to get back to the duo. Of course, that didn't work, since it whirled straight into the little pond and sank instantly.

Zelda let out a large sigh of relief and patted Link's back, the man still tense and ready to battle. He didn't feel as if it was over yet, and crept closer to the water to see the outcome of their odd enemy.

A large orange-brown hand slapped the ground right next to his feet as the rest of the rock-hard body pulled itself up. Link backed up and watched with wide eyes as the creature pulled himself out, shook himself off, and beamed at them with a wide grin. He had a huge stomach, crazy blown back hair (that he didn't even make that way once he was out of the water) and an orange body with certain areas made of rock (mostly his back though). Link could spot a tattoo on his forearm.

"It's a goron!" Zelda breathed, not really surprised. She should've known that if boulders started aiming straight for them, it had to be one of them. There was no mistaking that the being that came out of the water was the rock that had attacked them. Link got into a fighting position, knowing that this sturdy race was the one that had gotten into war with Hyrule.

"Calm down, brother!" The goron laughed loudly and slapped the boy's back, making him fall over by just the sheer force of it. Link spluttered around. "You just passed the Power test, goro!"

Link quickly snuck away and returned next to Zelda, rubbing his sore back.

Zelda took in Link's distrustful expression and pressed on for some clarification, "What in the world are you talking about?"

"In the Power test, all you had to do was get me in the water!" He bellowed with another loud laugh. "It didn't matter how either, goro! You could trick me for all I knew and you would still pass!"

"So that's what that Zora meant!" Zelda whispered to Link, hoping he would catch on to the insinuated _because she said that anyone could pass it! We don't even need to be that strong! _Link did, in fact, catch it.

"Some even had the guts to run away, goro!" The goron was a jolly good fellow, and the duo (but mostly Zelda) started to relax around him. "It's crazy! I didn't even have the time to explain before they jumped right back in the water and left me here all alone!" He whipped his hair back and forth shook his head. "And to think that they passed the test of Courage! Heck, this entire entrance examination _was_ the Courage test! The courage to fight on and get through it like a man, goro!" He took one glance at Zelda, whose eyebrows rose defiantly, and quickly fixed himself. "And women too."

"Thank you," she smiled pleasantly but gave him an _I'm Watching You_ sign when Link wasn't looking. "Why are you here testing us though? Aren't the gorons our enemies?"

"That'll all be explained later!" His smile fought to be turned upside down, but it pulled through at the last second. "Now move along, goro!" He waved at them to make their way to the upward path that he had rolled through to forcefully greet them. "I've got to prepare myself for my next victim!" He let out an evil laugh for good measure.

"Thank you!" Zelda waved as they moved along, unbothered by his enthusiasm, and the goron waved wildly back. Link was still wary though, and Zelda patted his back hard, making him wince. "Oh, loosen up!" She admonished when she got a scowl in return. "Not all of them are bad! He was really friendly!"

"He's still dangerous." Link grumbled.

"Is not!"

"He knocked me down with one hand."

"You weren't ready for it?"

"I was totally ready for it!"

"Maybe he doesn't know his own strength?"

She got a raised eyebrow in response.

"Nevermind then."

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally heard a loud, deep, and much-like-that-goron-earlier "BOO" with a high pitched shriek of terror following. The sound of water splashing came a few seconds later.

Zelda looked back after jumping a feet in the air in surprise. "I bet that whoever that was fainted."

"I bet that that goron's enjoying his job way too much for comfort." Link replied with the same beat.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, "Piggy back ride?"

He looked away. He must resist her super adorable looks! "Not this time."

"Aww!"

That's when they heard music.

And promptly got lost.

* * *

After another moment where it seems that they've been going on forever, the forest finally opened up around the two of them to show another clearing stuffed with flowers around its border. The music got louder and the academy was finally starting to become visible in the distance. After a quick look around, they spotted the next path to follow and kept going.

Only for the music to stop and for them to be halted.

"Congratulations on passing all the tests!" A voice giggled behind them. The two whirled on the spot and found the owner of the voice: a small child with bright green hair and clothes sitting on a stump, blending pretty well with the foliage. "I will be your final guide this fine morning!" She quickly glanced up at the sky to assure that she was correct. The sun was still up and rising. "A lot of people are known to get lost in these woods, so I play a song on my ocarina in hopes that they will follow the sound and be led to where I am." She lifted the small object that was in her hand and showed them her beige, worn out ocarina.

"I told you we should've followed it!" Zelda hissed.

"I was doing a pretty good job without doing that!" Link retorted.

"Yeah right!"

The forest girl was smiling at them. "Don't worry; men never like to take the advice of women, even if we're right." Link shot her a look. She giggled again and skipped her way in front of them. "Are you two ready to go? There's no turning back now."

The two shared a look. Zelda smiled, filled with faith in him, and Link smirked, because he knew that no matter what would happen, she would be adamant about getting in. They nodded to each other.

"Why would we go back?" Link asked, turning his look on the kid that was watching them.

"We're in it to win it!" Zelda continued with a grin, planting her hands defiantly on her hips.

"Good! Now follow me!" The greenette beamed before pulling her instrument to her lips and twirling around, the song of the forest starting all over again. She made her way around the two and started on the new path, quickly waving at them to follow behind her. They caught up and she showed them the right path to the academy (two many forks in the road for them to memorize it one the way).

Arriving there, they were greeted with the sight of impending doom.

The King of Hyrule was waiting for them.

"Father," Zelda gasped next to Link, eyes glued on the highly decorated figure.

The man waited for their guide to bow and leave and then made sure no one was paying attention to them before he spread his arms wide and beckoned his daughter to him. "Zelda!"

"Papa!" She cried back dramatically, diving into his arms.

He caught her perfectly and spun her in infinite circles, only stopping once he noticed she was getting nauseated. He put her back down and rubbed circles on her back to help pass the feeling. He turned to Link. "Thank you, my boy, for protecting my daughter!"

"Papa, that's Link, the man—" Link puffed up proudly at this. "—I've been telling you about."

"Ah yes," Papa squinted at him, slinging an arm protectively around his daughter's shoulders. "I do hope that my long absence from home hadn't allowed him to lay his filthy hands on you, m'dear!" He gave Link a pointed look, and said man stiffened, sending Zelda alarmed and helpless looks. He really had no idea how to address the old man that was all over his best friend.

"Of course!" Zelda lied flawlessly, but was still unable to hold down her blush as she thought back to all the times Link had carried her and held her to his body. She looked away. "There's no way that would happen!" She quickly added the following as an afterthought, to hide suspicion. "He's my butlerguard, after all."

"I hope you're right, Zelda." Her father replied, as if he already knew what a butlerguard was, and forcefully guided her in the direction of a secret entrance of the school with a flourish. "Now let us go prepare ourselves for the opening ceremony! We must humbly greet all of our new participants and congratulate them for being so great and coming this far!"

Zelda had no choice but to follow along. "Of course, papa." She quickly flung out her arm and waved at Link. "See you later, Link!"

The man only blinked and waved slowly back, his brain not registering what just happened.

Zelda, his very own childhood best friend and love of his life, was a freaking _princess_?!

Oh, woe was him.

* * *

**Author's Corner:**

I had originally planned to make this into a one-shot, just to throw a somewhat modern idea out there and let readers imagine the possibilities.

I realize that it would also be cool to continue it and make it a series (or whatever its called when it has more than one chapter), but I also would like to have a reader's imput and interactivity. So if this idea seems good enough to continue, let me know and I'll get right along in making the next chapter. If anyone has some awesome ideas of what could maybe happen, throw them by me, I would love to hear what you imagine!

Alright, toodeloo, and R&R! I'd love to hear from you!

(Oh, if you find any spelling or writing mistakes, please tell me! I have a bad habit of forgetting to put in specific words or mixing up a few!)


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